United States Regiments & Batteries > Wisconsin > 3rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment
The 3rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment lost 9 officers and 158 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 2 officers and 113 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War. A monument at Gettysburg to the 3rd Wisconsin was dedicated in 1888.
1861 | |
June 19 | Organized at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and mustered in under the command of Colonel Charles S. Hamilton (West Point Class of 1843), Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Ruger (West Point Class of 1854), and Major Bertine Pinkney.
Organization of the Regiment
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July 12 | Ordered to Hagerstown, Maryland. The regiment left Wisconsin in a 24 car train. |
July 18 | To Harper’s Ferry, W. Va. Attached to Stone’s Brigade, Dept. Shenandoah |
August 10 |
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August 18 | Moved to Darnestown |
September 12 | To Frederick, Md. |
September 20 | Captain Darius Gibbs of Company A resigned. First Lieutenant Henry Bertram was promoted to Captain of Company A. |
October | Attached to Stiles’ Brigade, Banks’ Division, Army of the Potomac |
October 11 | At Harper’s Ferry, W. Va. (Companies A, C and H) |
October 16 |
Skirmish on Bolivar HeightsCompanies A, C and H skirmished with Confederate cavalry under Turner Ashby. The regiment lost 4 men killed and 7 wounded. |
1862 | |
February 25 | March to Sandy Hook. Captain Howard Vandegrift of Company I resigned. |
March 12 | Occupation of Winchester, Va. |
March 22-25 | Advance toward Manassas. Attached to 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, Banks’ 5th Army Corps |
March 23 |
Battle of Kernstown(Company A) |
April 1-2 | Advance from Strasburg to Woodstock and Edenburg attached to 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, Dept. of the Shenandoah |
April 1-2 | Edenburg |
April-June |
Operations in the Shenandoah Valley |
April 12 | First Lieutenant Moses O’Brien of Company C was promoted to Captain of Company I. |
May 23 |
Buckton Station(Company G) Captain Gustavus Hammer was captured |
May 24 | Middletown and Newtown |
May 25 |
Battle of WinchesterCaptain Gustavus Hammer of Company E was captured. Lieutenant Henry C. Spencer of Company B was captured and would die in captivity. |
May 26-June 6 | Retreat to Martinsburg |
June | Duty at Front Royal attached to 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 2nd Corps, Army of Virginia |
June 1 |
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July 6 | At Little Washington |
July 16 | Captain George W. Limbocker of Company F resigned. |
July 18 | Captain Henry Bertram of Company A was transferred to the 20th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. |
August 9 |
Battle of Cedar Mountain
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August 12-13 |
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August 16- September 2 |
Pope’s Campaign in Northern Virginia |
August 27-30 |
Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas)Guarded trains of the army |
August 21 | First Lieutenant Nahum Daniels of Company E was detached to service with the U.S. Signal Corps until April of 1865. |
September 6-22 |
Maryland CampaignAttached to 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 12th Corps, Army of the Potomac |
September 16-17 |
Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)The 3rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment lost 27 men killed and 173 men wounded (ten mortally) out of the 340 men on the field.
At the end of the battle the regiment gathered up enough Springfield rifles on the battlefield that they were able to throw away their old smoothbore muskets. From the first War Department marker to Gordon’s Brigade in The Cornfield on the Antietam battlefield:Gordon’s Brigade formed line at daybreak on the Hoffman farm and advanced in a southerly direction in support of Hooker’s Corps. The 107th New York was detached to support Cothran’s Battery and the 13th New Jersey was held in reserve. The Brigade formed on either side of Ransom’s Battery on the high ground due east of D. R. Miller’s, where it repulsed an assault of Hood’s Division and its support and, moving south through the Cornfield, changed front to the right and took position behind the ridge parallel to the Hagerstown Pike, where it remained until it was relieved by the advance of Sedgwick’s Division and withdrawn to the East Woods. From the second War Department marker to Gordon’s Brigade on the Antietam battlefield:Immediately after the withdrawl of Gordon’s Brigade to the East Woods, after being relieved by Sedgwick’s Division, it was ordered to the support of that Division in the West Woods. The 13th New Jersey and 2nd Massachusetts advanced into this road – the former north and the latter south of this point – where they encountered such a destructive fire from the enemy that they were compelled to retire to the East Woods. Later in the day, the 13th New Jersey advanced into the woods west of the Dunkard Church and took position on the right of Greene’s Division. |
September-October | Duty on Maryland Heights |
October 30 | Defenses of the Upper Potomac at Antietam Iron Works |
November 1 | First Lieutenant Nahum Daniels of Company E, who was on detached duty with the U.S. Signal Corps, was promoted to Captain of Company I. |
November 29 | Colonel Thomas Ruger was promoted to Brigadier General. |
December 10 | March to Fairfax Station and duty there |
1863 | |
January 18 | Moved to Stafford Court House |
January 20 | Captain Gustavus Hammer of Company E was discharged for disability. |
March 10 |
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April 15 | Captain George J. Whitman of Company H was discharged due to his wound from Antietam. |
April 21 |
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April 27-May 6 |
Chancellorsville Campaign |
April 29 |
Germania Ford |
May 1-5 |
Battle of ChancellorsvilleThe 3rd Wisconsin lost 21 men killed and 80 wounded.
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May 12 |
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June 2 | First Lieutenant Lyman B. Balcom was promoted to Captain of Company D. |
June 9 |
Battle of Brandy StationThe regiment was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Martin Flood. |
June 11-July 24 |
Gettysburg Campaign |
June 16 | Captain Lyman B. Balcom of Company D was wounded. |
July 1-3 |
Battle of GettysburgThe 3rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment was commanded at Gettysburg by Colonel William Hawley. It brought 260 men to the field, losing two men killed and eight wounded. Lieutenants Charles L. Dering and Jasper Woodford was wounded. From the monument to the 3rd Wisconsin Infantry at Gettysburg:This regiment went into position on the part of the line on the evening of July 1st. On the evening of July 2d it moved to the left to reinforce the 3d Corps; returned to this position the same night and remained until the morning of July 5. |
July 5-24 | Pursuit of Lee to Manassas Gap, Va. |
August 16-September 5 | Duty in New York during draft disturbances |
September 24-October 3 |
Transferred to the Army of the Cumberland.Moved by rail to Bridgeport, Alabama |
October-December | At Stevenson, Ala., and Decherd, Tenn., guarding railroad |
November 3 |
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December 4 |
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December 21 | The regiment veteranized. All 27 officers and 240 out of 314 men re-enlisted, with the men receiving a $400 bounty and a 30 day furlough. |
December 25 | Veterans on furlough February 9, 1864 |
1864 | |
January-April | At Fayetteville, Tenn. |
February 3 | First Lieutenant Thomas E. Orton of Company H was promoted to Captain of Company K |
March 11 | First Lieutenant Ephraim Giddings was promoted to Captain of Company G. |
April | Attached to 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 20th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland. Three hundred new recruits from Wisconsin expanded the regiment to just short of 600 men. |
May 1-September 8 |
Atlanta Campaign |
May 8-11 | Demonstrations on Rocky Faced Ridge |
May 14-15 |
Battle of Resaca |
May 19 | Cassville |
May 25 |
New Hope Church
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May 25-June 5 | Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills |
June 10-July 2 | Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain |
June 11-14 | Pine Hill |
June 15-17 |
Lost Mountain |
June 15 |
Gilgal or Golgotha Church |
June 17 | Muddy Creek |
June 19 | Noyes Creek |
June 22 | Kolb’s Farm |
June 27 |
Assault on Kenesaw Mountain |
July 4 |
Ruff’s Station |
July 5-17 |
Chattahoochie River |
July 14 | Captain William Snow of Company B resigned due to his wounds. |
July 19-20 |
Peach Tree Creek |
July 22- August 25 |
Siege of AtlantaThe regiment lost 47 men killed, 138 wounded and 1 missing between July and September. |
July 24-25 |
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August 24 | Captain Lyman B. Balcom of Company D resigned. |
August 26-September 2 |
Operations at Chattahoochie River Bridge
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September 2-November 15 | Occupation of Atlanta. The regiment received 200 recruits from Wisconsin, including a dozen Chippewa Indians. |
August 31 |
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October 4 | First Lieutenant Jasper Woodford of Company G was promoted to Captain of Company F. |
November 1 | Captain Thomas Slagg of Company H resigned. |
November 25-December 10 |
Sherman’s March to the seaThe 3rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment left Atlanta with 467 men. |
December 9 |
Montieth Swamp |
December 10-21 |
Siege of Savannah |
December 12 | Members of Company F captured the Confederate gunboat Resolute, its 20 man crew, and breakfast at Argyle Island on the Savannah River. |
December 17 | Major George W. Stevenson was wounded. |
1865 | |
January to April |
Campaign of the Carolinas |
January 29 | Robertsville, S.C. |
February 4 | First Lieutenant John M. Schweers of Company K was promoted to Captain of COmpany H. |
March 16 |
Taylor’s Hole Creek, Averysboro, North Carolina,This was the regiment’s last action. |
March 19-21 |
Battle of Bentonville |
March 22 | Captain Wilson S. Buck of Company B was discharged for disability. |
March 24 | Occupation of Goldsboro |
April 10-14 | Advance on Raleigh. |
April 14 | Occupation of Raleigh |
April 20 | First Lieutenant John E. Klaven of Company H was promoted to Captain of Company B. |
April 26 |
Bennett’s HouseSurrender of Johnston and his army. |
April 29-May 19 | March to Washington, D.C. via Richmond, Va. |
May 7 | Lieutenant John H. Meigs died of disease. |
May 24 | Grand Review |
June 11-16 | Moved to Louisville, Ky. |
July 18 | The 3rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment mustered out at Louisville under the command of Colonel William Hawley, Lieutenant Colonel George W. Stevenson, and Major Warham Parks. Only 194 men of the original 978 remained. |